Clemons & Brown: NBA Talent in German BBL | Basketball News

On March 22, 1989, Keith Gray set a record in the Basketball Bundesliga that still stands today. On the last day of the relegation round, the American scored 65 points for TSV Hagen in the game against SG Braunschweig. One can argue about the sporting value of this record. Gray scored it against an opponent who was hopelessly inferior and had already been relegated.

His team had a total of 142 points that day, which doesn’t speak for Braunschweig’s outstanding defensive efforts, even if the then twenty-six-year-old remembers that the guests tried hard to narrow their circles with changing defenders in the second half. Unfortunately, there is no video or statistics to show how many throws he needed to set his record.

The first time Gray’s performance this season was remembered was on October 24th, when Oldenburg’s Chris Clemons scored 52 points against Trier. This was his first game with more than 50 points in 33 years. This puts him in seventh place in league history. This past weekend, Tevin Brown had another outstanding individual performance. The Rasta Vechta player scored 46 points against Hamburg Towers.

Now one could note that the game went into overtime and Brown got a longer playing time. But on the other hand, such a performance is even more valuable in a close game that the team ultimately won 97:95. Above all, the twenty-seven-year-old American showed a great overall package. For his 46 points, he hit 13 of 19 attempts from the field and 13 of 15 free throws. He also recorded seven rebounds and four assists and ball wins each.

Gray scored 45.8 percent of his team’s total points at the open day. At Brown it was 47.4 percent and at Clemons even 48.1 percent in a clear but still important victory. Because it has been the only success so far for Oldenburg, who reacted at the beginning of the week and replaced their coach Predrag Krunić with his assistant Lazar Spasić.

The odds were also right for Clemons. The twenty-eight-year-old hit nine of eleven three-point shots, among other things. It is also noticeable that Brown and Clemons each had phases in which they were particularly accurate, i.e. “hot” in basketball terms. Clemons scored 18 points in the second quarter, while Brown, after a first half with only three points, scored 22 points (six of six three-pointers) in the third quarter and was then the decisive man in overtime.

How do such achievements come about when the prevailing assessment is that the level in the BBL has fallen compared to previous years? This may well be true for the quality of the teams in their collective structure, but not for the individual possibilities of individual actors.

It’s no coincidence that two outside players (Clemons is a 5’7″ playmaker and Brown is a 6’9″ small forward) put up these numbers. This would hardly be possible for “big men” in modern basketball because the ball rarely goes inside and against really good players it is quickly doubled.

The guards benefit from ever-increasing pace, which increases the number of shooting options. In addition, as mentioned, they also take most of these throws – often from beyond the three-point line. While the three-pointer was of minor importance in Gray’s time, there are now teams that make more than half of their attempts from beyond the 6.75 meter line.

Especially in the NBA, top players can single-handedly decide games due to their individual quality. Clemons and Brown have proven that this is also possible in Germany. “If the star scores his 50 points but we control his teammates, we win the game.”

This maxim was often given by coaches. But it only has limited validity because Oldenburg and Vechta recorded important successes because Clemons and Brown took over. In addition, there is often a second or third dangerous scorer. Vechta also has Alonzo Verge Jr. in its ranks, who is the best point collector in the league with 20.8 points per game.

The author is a two-time coach of the year in Germany.